Customized user-controlled media overlays

ABSTRACT

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality of electronic messaging and imaging software and systems by enabling users to generate customized media overlays that can he shared with other users. For example, media overlays can be generated by the system and displayed in conjunction with media content (e.g., images and/or video) generated by an image-capturing device (e.g., a digital camera). In some embodiments, existing media overlays may be used by users to create derivative media overlays. The system may track usage of media overlays and any derivatives created based thereon, and allow users to control the distribution and use of their overlays in future derivatives. In some embodiments, for example, a user can modify an overlay they created and cause the modification to propagate to all derivative overlays based on the user&#39;s overlay.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of electronic messaging, particularly instant messaging,continues to grow. Users increasingly share media content items such aselectronic images and videos with each other, reflecting a global demandto communicate more visually. Similarly, users increasingly seek tocustomize the media content items they share with others, providingchallenges to social networking systems seeking to enable users togenerate and edit custom media content. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure address these and other issues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding amessaging system, according to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of the messaging server system, according to variousexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process according to variousaspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5B are screenshots illustrating the steps of the methoddescribed in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine,according to some exemplary embodiments, able to read instructions froma machine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium)andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve thefunctionality of electronic messaging and imaging software and systemsby enabling users to generate customized media overlays that can beshared with other users. For example, media overlays can be generated bythe system and displayed in conjunction with media content (e.g., imagesand/or video) generated by an image-capturing device (e.g., a digitalcamera). Media content and overlays applied thereto can be also betransmitted to other users via electronic communications, such as SMS orMMS texts and emails. In some embodiments, media overlays may bepresented to a user in a gallery or carousel to be selected and appliedto media content by the user.

In some embodiments, existing media overlays may be used by users tocreate derivative media overlays. The system may track usage of mediaoverlays and any derivatives created based thereon, and allow users tocontrol the distribution and use of their overlays in futurederivatives. In some embodiments, for example, a user can modify anoverlay they created and cause the modification to propagate to allderivative overlays based on the user's overlay. In some embodiments, auser can delete an overlay they created and cause any derivativeoverlays based on the user's overlay to be deleted as well.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a messaging system 100for exchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over anetwork. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102,each of which hosts a number of applications including a messagingclient application 104. Each messaging client application 104 iscommunicatively coupled to other instances of the messaging clientapplication 104 and a messaging server system 108 via a network 106(e.g., the Internet). As used herein, the term “client device” may referto any machine that interfaces to a communications network (such asnetwork 106) to obtain resources from one or more server systems orother client devices. A client device may be, but is not limited to, amobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digital assistants(PDAs), smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, each messaging client application 104 isable to communicate and exchange data with another messaging clientapplication 104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network106. The data exchanged between messaging client applications 104, andbetween a messaging client application 104 and the messaging serversystem 108, includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) aswell as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimediadata).

The network 106 may include, or operate in conjunction with, an ad hocnetwork, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), alocal area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), theInternet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS) network,a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network,another type of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.For example, a network or a portion of a network may include a wirelessor cellular network and the coupling may be a Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobile communications(GSM) connection, or other type of cellular or wireless coupling. Inthis example, the coupling may implement any of a variety of types ofdata transfer technology, such as Single Carrier Radio TransmissionTechnology (1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSMEvolution (EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long TermEvolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard settingorganizations, other long range protocols, or other data transfertechnology.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include, message content, client device information,geolocation information, media annotation and overlays, message contentpersistence conditions, social network information, and live eventinformation, as examples. Data exchanges within the messaging system 100are invoked and controlled through functions available via userinterfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. Theapplication server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored dataassociated with messages processed by the application server 112.

Dealing specifically with the Application Program Interface (API) server110, this server receives and transmits message data (e.g., commands andmessage payloads) between the client device 102 and the applicationserver 112. Specifically, the Application Program interface (API) server110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that canbe called or queried by the messaging client application 104 in order toinvoke functionality of the application server 112. The ApplicationProgram Interface (API) server 110 exposes various functions supportedby the application server 112, including account registration, loginfunctionality, the sending of messages, via the application server 112,from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messagingclient application 104, the sending of electronic media files (e.g.,electronic images and/or video) from a messaging client application 104to the messaging server application 114, and for possible access byanother messaging client application 104, the setting of a collection ofmedia data (e.g., story), the retrieval of a list of friends of a userof a client device 102, the retrieval of such collections, the retrievalof messages and content, the adding and deletion of friends to a socialgraph, the location of friends within a social graph, opening andapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116 and a social network system 122. The messagingserver application 114 implements a number of message processingtechnologies and functions, particularly related to the aggregation andother processing of content (e.g., textual and multimedia contentincluding images and video clips) included in messages received frommultiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor and memory intensive processing of data may also beperformed server-side by the messaging server application 114, in viewof the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to electronic images and/or video received withinthe payload of a message at the messaging server application 114.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions services, and makes these functions and services available tothe messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 within thedatabase 120. Examples of functions and services supported by the socialnetwork system 122 include the identification of other users of themessaging system 100 with which a particular user has relationships oris “following”, and also the identification of other entities andinterests of a particular user.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114.

Some embodiments may include one or more wearable devices, such as apendant with an integrated camera that is integrated with, incommunication with, or coupled to, a client device 102. Any desiredwearable device may be used in conjunction with the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, such as a watch, eyeglasses, goggles, a headset, awristband, earbuds, clothing (such as a hat or jacket with integratedelectronics), a clip-on electronic device, and/or any other wearabledevices.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100, according to exemplary embodiments. Specifically,the messaging system 100 is shown to comprise the messaging clientapplication 104 and the application server 112, which in turn embody anumber of some subsystems, namely an ephemeral timer system 202, acollection management system 204 and an annotation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the messaging server application 114. To this end,the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that,based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, orcollection of messages (e.g., a SNAPCHAT story), selectively display andenable access to messages and associated content via the messagingclient application 104.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text and audio) may be organized into an “eventgallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be made availablefor a specified time period, such as the duration of an event to whichthe content relates. For example, content relating to a music concertmay be made available as a “story” for the duration of that musicconcert. The collection management system 204 may also be responsiblefor publishing an icon that provides notification of the existence of aparticular collection to the user interface of the messaging clientapplication 104.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation may be paid to a user for inclusion of usergenerated content into a collection. In such cases, the curationinterface 208 operates to automatically make payments to such users forthe use of their content.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with amessage. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functionsrelated to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messagesprocessed by the messaging system 100. The annotation system 206operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a SNAPCHAT filter) to themessaging client application 104 based on a geolocation of the clientdevice 102. In another example, the annotation system 206 operativelysupplies a media overlay to the messaging client application 104 basedon other information, such as, social network information of the user ofthe client device 102. A media overlay may include audio and visualcontent and visual effects. Examples of audio and visual content includepictures, texts, logos, animations, and sound effects. An example of avisual effect includes color overlaying. The audio and visual content orthe visual effects can be applied to a media content item (e.g., animage or video) at the client device 102. For example, the media overlayincluding text that can be overlaid on top of a photograph/electronicimage generated by the client device 102. In another example, the mediaoverlay includes an identification of a location overlay (e.g., Venicebeach), a name of a live event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g.,Beach Coffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 usesthe geolocation of the client device 102 to identify a media overlaythat includes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of the clientdevice 102. The media overlay may include other indicia associated withthe merchant. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 andaccessed through the database server 118.

In some exemplary embodiments, as discussed in more detail below,embodiments of the present disclosure may generate, display, distribute,and apply media overlays to media content items. For example,embodiments may utilize media content items generated by a client device102 (e.g., an image or video captured using a digital camera coupled tothe client device 102) to generate media overlays that can be applied toother media content items.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram 300 illustrating data 300 that is storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain exemplary embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, the data could be stored in othertypes of data structures (e.g., as an object-oriented database)

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table314. The entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which themessaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Eachentity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity typeidentifier (not shown).

The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization) interested-based or activity-based, merely for example.

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 312. Filters for which data is storedwithin the annotation table 312 are associated with and applied tovideos (for which data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 308). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of variestypes, including a user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message.

Other types of filters include geolocation filters (also known asGeofilters) which may be presented to a sending user based on geographiclocation. For example, geolocation filters specific to a neighborhood orspecial location may be presented within a user interface by themessaging client application 104, based on geolocation informationdetermined by a GPS unit of the client device 102. Another type offilter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to a sendinguser by the messaging client application 104, based on other inputs orinformation gathered by the client device 102 during the messagecreation process. Example of data filters include current temperature ata specific location, a current speed at which a sending user istraveling, battery life for a client device 102 or the current time.Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 308 isso-called “Lens” data. A “Lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 302. The entity table 302 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videosstored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.

A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a SNAPCHAT story or a gallery). The creation of aparticular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., eachuser for which a record is maintained in the entity table 302). A usermay create a “personal story” in the form of a collection of contentthat has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, theuser interface of the messaging client application 104 may include anicon that is user selectable to enable a sending user to add specificcontent to his or her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automaticallyor using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom varies locations and events. Users, whose client devices havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via auser interface of the messaging client application 104, to contributecontent to a particular live story. The live story may be identified tothe user by the messaging client application 104, based on his or herlocation. The end result is a “live story” told from a communityperspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

Embodiments of the present disclosure may generate and presentcustomized images for use within electronic messages/communications suchas short message service (SMS) or multimedia message service (MMS) textsand entails. The customized images may also be utilized in conjunctionwith the SNAPCHAT stories, SNAPCHAT filters, and ephemeral messagingfunctionality discussed herein.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary process according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. In this example, method 400 includes displayingmedia content on the display screen of a computing device (405),receiving selection of an object in the media content from a user (410),generating a media overlay based on the selected object (415), andtransmitting the media overlay (420). Method 400 further includesreceiving input from the user for controlling usage of the media overlay(425), transmitting control instructions (430), receiving a uniformresource locator (URL) link to the overlay (435), receiving input from auser for sharing the URL (440), and transmitting the URL (445). Method400 also includes receiving a media content item with one or moreoverlays applied (450), retrieving one or more of the applied overlaysfrom the media content item (455), applying one or more media overlaysto a media content item (460), and receiving (465) and displaying (470)usage information regarding a media overlay. The steps of method 400 and420 may be performed in whole or in part, may be performed inconjunction each other as well as with some or all of the steps in othermethods, and may be performed by any number of different systems, suchas the systems described in FIGS. 1 and 7.

A variety of media content items may be used and displayed (405)inconjunction with embodiments of the present disclosure. In this context,a “media content item” may include any type of electronic media in anyformat. For example, a media content item may include an image in NGformat, an image in PNG format, a video in FLV format, a video in AVIformat, etc. In some exemplary embodiments, a media content item iscaptured using an image capture device or component (such as a digitalcamera) coupled to, or in communication with, a system performing thefunctionality of method 400. In the exemplary system 700 depicted inFIG. 7 may include a digital camera as one of input components 728.Additionally or alternatively, the media content item may be receivedfrom another system or device. In FIG. 1, for example, a client device102 performing the functionality of method 400 may receive a mediacontent item from another client device 102 or other system via network106. FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary screenshot of an image 500 of acup of coffee; 510, along with a menu bar 520 for selecting objects(410) within the image.

In this example, referring now to FIG. 5B, the system receives theselection of an object (410) within an image or other media content itemdisplayed on the screen. In one exemplary embodiment, the user pressesand holds the user's finger on the display screen of the user's deviceto draw a cutout of an object displayed on the display screen, such asthe coffee cup 510. The user releasing his/her finger from the displayscreen initiates a software process to identify the object within thecutout and then display the object on the display screen. In FIG. 5B,for example, the user has drawn a cutout around the coffee cup 510, andthe system identifies the object and displays the coffee cup object 560superimposed on the original image. The user may use the menu bar 520 toperform various operations on the object, such as resizing, rotating,moving, annotating, and performing other modifications to the object iiiconjunction with generating (415) a media overlay such as a “sticker”(i.e., an image that can be overlaid onto other images), filter, oranother media overlay.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may allow a user to select objectsfrom a variety of different media content items. For example, where themedia content item is a video, the system may freeze the video to allowthe user to select an object in a single frame from the video.

The system generates a media overlay (415) based on the selected object.The overlay may include static (i.e., non-moving) features as well asdynamic (i.e., moving) features. In some embodiments, generation of theoverlay (415) may change the format or other characteristics of theselected object. For example, where the media content item is in astatic image format such a JPG, and where the media overlay includes adynamic component, the system may generate the media overlay as ananimated GIF to incorporate the dynamic component in the media overlay.

Generation of the media overlay (415) may include the generation of oneor more data structure fields containing information regarding theoverlay. For example, the system may generate a name field in a datastructure for the media overlay that includes a name for the mediaoverlay received from an input device of a user interface from a usergenerating the overlay. In some embodiments, a user may be allowed torename an overlay prior to transmitting (420) the overlay (e.g., to aserver to be distributed/provided to other users) but prevented frommodifying the name of the overlay (or other features of the overlay)once the overlay is transmitted. Similarly, the system may enforceunique names or identifiers for the overlays. Among other things, thesefeatures can help to prevent confusion among users after a media overlayobtains popularity and prevent unauthorized knock-offs of popular mediaoverlays.

The system may allow the user to modify setting, colors, text, objects,other features displayed within the generated media overlay. Among otherthings, this allows embodiments of the present disclosure to use somestandard template features in a media overlay (and thus do not need torecreate each media overlay from scratch) while also allowing the systemto customize media overlays to provide a unique graphical experience toeach user. The system may also allow the user to select, edit, andreformat text from an image. In some embodiments, the system mayidentify and apply effects and overlays (e.g., a color filter) to thegenerated overlay.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can also generate a media overlay(415) based on information retrieved/received from one or more sensorscoupled to, or in communication with, the system, such as any of thesensor components 730, 734, 736, 738 in system 700 depicted in FIG. 7.Accordingly, the media overlay may thus be generated based on data froma location sensor, temperature sensor, velocity sensor, accelerationsensor, altitude sensor, and any other sensor information. In oneexemplary embodiment, the generation of the media overlay by the systemincludes creating a geolocation field in a data structure for the mediaoverlay that the system fills with location information received from alocation sensor. The location information may, for example, indicate thelocation of the computing device on which the media overlay is created,thus allowing other users to search for user-generated overlays based onthe location (e.g., country, state, region, etc.) of the users thatcreated them. The location information (or information from othersensors) may be anonymized or redacted to provide useful information tousers searching for the media overlay while preserving the privacy ofthe user creating the overlay.

In some embodiments, the system can also analyze the content of anoverlay to help automatically identify characteristics and features ofthe overlay, and include such information in data structure fields forthe overlay. For example, referring to the coffee cup object 560 in FIG.5B, the system may perform (via software on the user's device or theserver) image identification analysis on the overlay to identify thecoffee cup and to fill one or more fields with “coffee cup,” “dishes,”or other identifying tags that will help users to find the overlay in asearch. The system may thus automatically classify user-generated mediaoverlays even when the user does not enter such classificationinformation.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may generate any desired contentin conjunction with generating (406) the media overlay, includingimages, video, text, visual effects, etc. In some embodiments, thegeneration of text and other content may be generated based onidentifying a location for the system (e.g., based on locationinformation from a location sensor coupled to the system), identifying alanguage associated with the system's location, and generating text forthe media overlay in the identified language.

The system may transmit (420) the generated media overlay to any numberof other systems. For example, media overlays may be transmitted toanother device (e.g., by client device 102 to application server 112 oranother client device 102 over a network such as the Internet in FIG.1). In some embodiments, the server may collect media overlays submittedfrom different users and provide users access to the submitted overlays(e.g., via an Internet web page, displaying the overlays in acarousel/gallery on a user's device, etc.) to allow the user to view andapply such overlays to their own images and other media content items.The system may also receive input from a user generating an overlay forcontrolling the use of the overlay (425) and generate and transmitcontrol instructions (430) based on such input to another system, suchas the server hosting the overlay or to another device directlyreceiving the overlay from the originating user's device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may transmit (420) and receive(459) electronic communications containing media content items, mediaoverlays, or both using any form of electronic communication, such asSMS texts, MMS texts, emails, and other communications. Media contentitems included in such communications may be provided as attachments,displayed inline in the message, within media overlays, or conveyed inany other suitable manner.

The system receives (425) input from a user creating an overlay forcontrolling the usage of the overlay. Users may control the usage of theoverlays they create in a variety of ways, such as by controlling thedistribution of an overlay. For example, a user may input instructionsvia the input device of the user's computing device to define awhitelist of users, computing devices, or both, that the media overlaymay be distributed to. Likewise, a user may input a blacklist of users,computing devices, or both, that the media overlay may not bedistributed to. The user may also define various geographical boundarieswithin which the media overlay may or may not be distributed to. Forexample, the user may allow distribution of a media overlay the usercreates anywhere within the United States, but prevent distribution ofthe media overlay outside the United States.

The user may also control the duration that a media overlay is madeavailable. For example, the user may specify that a media overlay bemade available to other users for a limited time, and made inaccessibleafterwards.

The system may analyze the user's input regarding usage control or amedia overlay and generate control instructions for a server hosting themedia overlay to other users, or for other client computing devices towhich the user distributes the media overlay. In other embodiments, theuser's input may constitute the control instructions. The controlinstructions are then transmitted (430) to the appropriate computingdevices (e.g., over a network such as the Internet) to control the usageof the media overlay by other users.

In the exemplary method 400 in FIG. 4, the system receives a uniformresource locator (URL) linked to the overlay (435). For example, wherethe overlay is created on a user's client device (e.g., client device102 in FIG. 1) the user may transmit (420) the media overlay to a server(such as messaging server 108 in FIG. 1) and the server may, in turn,host the overlay for the user (and others) to access via a URLtransmitted to the user's computing device over the Internet or anothernetwork. The system can receive input from the user for sharing the URL(440) with the computing devices of one or more other users and, inresponse to such input, transmit the URL (445) to the other computingdevices, such as via an electronic communication transmitted over theInternet.

In some embodiments, the system may limit access to the media overlaybased on, for example, input from the user for controlling the usage ofthe overlay (425). In one exemplary embodiment, the system includes atoken in the electronic communication in which the URL is transmitted toanother computing device that limits access to the URL by the receivingdevice only. The token prevents access to the URL by other computingdevices, thus preventing unwanted distribution of the media overlaybeyond a selected set of users. Accordingly, the system can restrictaccess to the media overlay even if a recipient of the URL forwards theURL to an unauthorized user/device. In other embodiments, by contrast,the URL may be accessed by any number of other computing devices, eventhose not originally sent the URL (thus allowing redistribution). Inthis manner, the system can help provide a flexible level of access touser-generated media overlays.

In addition to generating media overlays from objects within mediacontent items, embodiments of the present disclosure may be adapted toretrieve media overlays applied to images and other media content itemsfor later use by users. In some embodiments, for example, a computingdevice can receive (450) a media content item having one or more mediaoverlays applied to the media content item. The device displays themedia content item on the display screen of the computing device andvisually identifies one or more of the media overlays applied to themedia content item. In response to input from the user selecting one ormore of the media overlays, the system retrieves (455) the selectedoverlays and stores them (e.g., in the computing device memory fordisplay in a gallery/carousel as discussed below) for later use by theuser.

In some embodiments where multiple overlays are applied to a mediacontent item, the system may allow only a subset of the total number ofapplied overlays to be retrieved, thus helping preserve the uniquenessof, or access to, various media overlays. In one exemplary embodiment, amedia content item having a plurality of media overlays applied to it isreceived (450) by the system and the system retrieves (455) (or allowsthe user to select for retrieval) up to a predetermined number ofoverlays from the media content item. The predetermined number ofoverlays may be selected at random, based on an order they were applied,or based on other criteria.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure can present the userwith a plurality of media overlays on the display screen of a computingdevice to choose from. This display can be in the form of a list,gallery, carousel, or other construct. The media overlays may bedisplayed in conjunction with a variety of information about each mediaoverlay. For example, the system may display a name associated with themedia overlay, a name (or other identifier) associated with the userthat created the media overlay, date information, size information, orcombinations thereof.

Based on selection of one or more of these overlays by the user, thesystem applies (460) the one or more selected overlays to a mediacontent item. The user may also add, remove, and modify media overlaysdisplayed in conjunction with a media content item before applying themedia overlay(s) to the content item.

Embodiments of the disclosure may generate an event story or eventgallery based on a collection or series of electronic communications(e.g., containing media content items with media overlays applied)between users and provide temporary access to the event story orgallery. Any collection of such communications may be selected based onany criteria, and one or more users may be granted access to an eventstory or gallery for any desired predetermined period of time. Likewise,the system may grant access to the media overlays generated by a userfor a predetermined period of time as described above.

Embodiments of the present disclosure allow the system to receive (465)and display (470) usage information regarding overlays created by auser. This not only allows the user to see the popularity of his/heroverlays, but also the manner in which they are being distributed andused. For example, a server (e.g., messaging server system 108 inFIG. 1) may monitor downloads of media overlays, track derivativeoverlays created based thereon, and generate reports to transmit to theuser who created the overlay (e.g., a user of a client device 102 inFIG. 1) and display on the user's computing device.

A variety of information the usage of media overlays may be collectedand transmitted to a user, such as the number of views a media overlayhas had by other users, the number of times the user's media overlay hasbeen applied to media content items, and other information. In someembodiments, users may take an existing media overlay and modify (e.g.,add content to, remove content from, alter content within, etc.) theoverlay in some manner to create a derivative media overlay.

For example, referring again to FIGS. 5A and 5B, a first user may createan overlay sticker of the coffee cup 560 and apply the sticker to animage (taken using the digital camera of the user's computing device) ofthe user waking up first thing in the morning with a caption “I needcoffee.” As second user may receive the image of the user with the(first) coffee cup overlay, retrieve the coffee cup overlay from theimage, enlarge the coffee cup by 50%, and save it as a new (second)overlay. In some embodiments, the system may limit control of derivativeoverlays (such as the second overlay) to the user who created theoriginal overlay. In other embodiments, each user who creates an overlaymay control aspects of the usage of the overlay they created and anyderivatives thereof.

The system may allow users to affect derivatives of their media overlaysin a variety of different ways. The system may provide a user usageinformation regarding derivative overlays from the user's media overlayand the user may decide he/she wishes to make changes to the originaloverlay that will propagate to all downstream derivatives. For example,the user may provide input for usage control of the media overlay (425)that deletes an original overlay created by the user, and causing theserver hosting the original overlay to delete any derivatives of theoriginal overlay. Using the example of the derivative overlay of thecoffee cup above, the first user could delete the original (smaller)coffee cup overlay and cause the server to remove the first overlay fromany media content items, but also remove the second overlay from anymedia content items. Likewise, the user may make a modification to theoriginal overlay that causes the modification to apply to allderivatives. For example, the first user could remove the handle of thecoffee cup in the original overlay, causing the handle of the coffee cupin the second overlay to be removed as well.

In this mariner, the embodiments of the present disclosure allow a userto prevent or terminate distribution of overlays based on the user'soriginal overlay. This can be particularly useful in cases where theoverlay contains a likeness of the user (e.g., of the user's face) that(perhaps unintentionally) gets distributed beyond the user's group ofclose friends as the user may have originally intended. In addition toblanket changes to all derivatives, embodiments of the presentdisclosure can also enable a user to selectively delete or modifyderivative overlays individually or based on groups of overlays.

For example, a user may use the received usage information on the user'soverlay to identify fifty derivative overlays that have been created byother users based on the user's overlay. The user may selectively deletethree of the derivatives, selectively modify two of the derivatives,delete a group of five derivatives outside a predetermined geographicalboundary (e.g., outside the United States) and allow the remaining fortyderivatives to remain in use.

Software Architecture

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary softwarearchitecture 606, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 6 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 606 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 700 of FIG. 7 that includes, among other things,processors 704, memory 714, and I/O components 718. A representativehardware layer 652 is illustrated and can represent, for example, themachine 700 of FIG. 7. The representative hardware layer 652 includes aprocessing unit 654 having associated executable instructions 604.Executable instructions 604 represent the executable instructions of thesoftware architecture 606, including implementation of the methods,components and so forth described herein. The hardware layer 652 alsoincludes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage 656, which alsohave executable instructions 604. The hardware layer 652 may alsocomprise other hardware 658.

As used herein, the term “component” may refer to a device, physicalentity or logic having boundaries defined by function or subroutinecalls, branch points, application program interfaces (APIs), and/orother technologies that provide for the partitioning or modularizationof particular processing or control functions. Components may becombined via their interfaces with other components to carry out amachine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardware unitdesigned for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions.

Components may constitute either software components (e.g., codeembodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A“hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing certainoperations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physicalmanner. In various exemplary embodiments, one or more computer systems(e.g., a standalone computer system, a client computer system, or aserver computer system) or one or more hardware components of a computersystem (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured bysoftware (e.g., art application or application portion) as a hardwarecomponent that operates to perform certain operations as describedherein. A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations.

A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor, such as aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may also includeprogrammable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured bysoftware to perform certain operations. For example, a hardwarecomponent may include software executed by a general-purpose processoror other programmable processor. Once configured by such software,hardware components become specific machines (or specific components ofa machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and areno longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that thedecision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicatedand permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configuredcircuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations.

A processor may be, or in include, any circuit or virtual circuit (aphysical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor)that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands”, “op codes”, “machine code”, etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. Aprocessor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC)or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-coreprocessor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referredto as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously.

Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component”(or “hardware-implementedcomponent”) should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be thatan entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g.,hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in acertain manner or to perform certain operations described herein.Considering embodiments in which hardware components are temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need notbe configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processorconfigured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respectively differentspecial-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardwarecomponents) at different times. Software accordingly configures aparticular processor or processors, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitutea different hardware component at a different instance of time. Hardwarecomponents can provide information to, and receive information from,other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access.

For example, one hardware component may perform an operation and storethe output of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at alater time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware components may also initiate communications with inputor output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented components.

Moreover, the one or more processors may also operate to supportperformance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing”environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, atleast some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers(as examples of machines including processors), with these operationsbeing accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or moreappropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application Program Interface (API)).The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some exemplary embodiments, theprocessors or processor-implemented components may be located in asingle geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other exemplary embodiments, theprocessors or processor-implemented components may be distributed acrossa number of geographic locations.

In the exemplary architecture of FIG. 6, the software architecture 606may be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 606 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 602, libraries 620,applications 616 and a presentation layer 614. Operationally, theapplications 616 and/or other components within the layers may invokeapplication programming interface (API) API calls 608 through thesoftware stack and receive messages 612 in response to the API calls608. The layers illustrated are representative in nature and not allsoftware architectures have all layers. For example, some mobile orspecial purpose operating systems may not provide aframeworks/middleware 618, while others may provide such a layer. Othersoftware architectures may include additional or different layers.

The operating system 602 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 602 may include, for example, akernel 622, services 624 and drivers 626. The kernel 622 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 622 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 624 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 626 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 626 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 620 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 616 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries620 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 602 functionality (e.g., kernel 622,services 624 and/or drivers 626). The libraries 620 may include systemlibraries 644 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 620 mayinclude API libraries 646 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media format such asMPREG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and 3D in a graphiccontent on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite that may providevarious relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit thatmay provide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 620may also include a wide variety of other libraries 648 to provide manyother APIs to the applications 616 and other softwarecomponents/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 618 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 616 and/or other software components/modules. For example,the frameworks/middleware 618 may provide various graphic user interface(GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 618 may provide abroad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized by the applications616 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may bespecific to a particular operating system 602 or platform.

The applications 616 include built-in applications 638 and/orthird-party applications 640. Examples of representative built-inapplications 638 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, media application, a messaging application, and/ora game application. Third-party applications 640 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 640 may invoke the API calls 608 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 602) to facilitatefunctionality described herein.

The applications 616 may use built in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 622, services 624 and/or drivers 626), libraries 620, andframeworks/middleware 618 to create user interfaces to interact withusers of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systemsinteractions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such aspresentation layer 614. In these systems, the application/component“logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/componentthat interact with a user.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components (also referred toherein as “modules”) of a machine 700, according to some exemplaryembodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable medium(e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 7 shows adiagrammatic representation of the machine 700 in the example form of acomputer system, within which instructions 710 (e.g., software, aprogram, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code)for causing the machine 700 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such, theinstructions 710 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 710 transform the general,non-programmed machine 700 into a particular machine 700 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 700 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 700 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 700 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 710, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 700. Further, while only a single machine 700 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 710 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 700 may include processors 704, memory memory/storage 706,and I/O components 718, which may be configured to communicate with eachother such as via a bus 702. The memory/storage 706 may include a memory714, such as a main memory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit716, both accessible to the processors 704 such as via the bus 702. Thestorage unit 716 and memory 714 store the instructions 710 embodying anyone or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 710 may also reside, completely or partially, within thememory 714, within the storage unit 716, within at least one of theprocessors 704 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or anysuitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine700. Accordingly, the memory 714, the storage unit 716, and the memoryof processors 704 are examples of machine-readable media.

As used herein, the term “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readablemedium,” or the like may refer to any component, device or othertangible media able to store instructions and data temporarily orpermanently. Examples of such media may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” may alsobe taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, thatis capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by amachine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or moreprocessors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or moreof the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readablemedium” may refer to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as“cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiplestorage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium”excludes signals per se.

The I/O components 718 may include a wide variety of components toprovide a user interface for receiving input, providing output,producing output, transmitting information, exchanging information,capturing measurements, and so on. The specific I/O components 718 thatare included in the user interface of a particular machine 700 willdepend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such asmobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/Ocomponents 718 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 7. The I/O components 718 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion and the grouping is inno way limiting. In various exemplary embodiments, the I/O components718 may include output components 726 and input components 728. Theoutput components 726 may include visual components (e.g., a displaysuch as a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED)display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode raytube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components(e.g., a vibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 728 may includealphanumeric input components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screenconfigured to receive alphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, orother alphanumeric input components), point based input components(e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, orother pointing instrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physicalbutton, a touch screen that provides location and/or force of touches ortouch gestures, or other tactile input components), audio inputcomponents (e.g., a microphone), and the like. The input components 728may also include one or more image-capturing devices, such as a digitalcamera for generating digital images and/or video.

In further exemplary embodiments, the I/O components 718 may includebiometric components 730, motion components 734, environmentalenvironment components 736, or position components 738, as well as awide array of other components. One or more of such components portionsthereof) may collectively be referred to herein as a “sensor component”or “sensor” for collecting various data related to the machine 700, theenvironment of the machine 700, a user of the machine 700, or acombinations thereof.

For example, the biometric components 730 may include components todetect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocalexpressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g.,blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brainwaves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinalidentification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, orelectroencephalogram based identification), and the like. The motioncomponents 734 may include acceleration sensor components (e.g.,accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, velocity sensorcomponents (e.g., speedometer), rotation sensor components (e.g.,gyroscope), and so forth. The environment components 736 may include,for example, illumination sensor components (e.g., photometer),temperature sensor components (e.g., one or more thermometer that detectambient temperature), humidity sensor components, pressure sensorcomponents (e.g., barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one ormore microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensorcomponents (e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gassensors (e.g., gas detection sensors to detection concentrations ofhazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere),or other components that may provide indications, measurements, orsignals corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. Theposition components 738 may include location sensor components (e.g., aGlobal Position system (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensorcomponents (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure fromwhich altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components (e.g.,magnetometers), and the like. For example, the location sensor componentmay provide location information associated with the system 700, such asthe system's 700 GPS coordinates and/or information regarding a locationthe system 700 is at currently (e.g., the name of a restaurant or otherbusiness).

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 718 may include communication components 740 operableto couple the machine 700 to a network 732 or devices 720 via coupling722 and coupling 724 respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 740 may include a network interface component or othersuitable device to interface with the network 732. In further examples,communication components 740 may include wired communication components,wireless communication components, cellular communication components,Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g.,Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents to provide communication via other modalities. The devices720 may be another machine or any of a wide variety of peripheraldevices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a Universal Serial Bus(USB)).

Moreover, the communication components 740 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 740 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components740, such as, location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Where a phrase similar to “at least one of A, B, or C,” “at least one ofA, B, and C,” “one or more A, B, or C,” or “one or more of A, B, and C”is used, it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that Aalone may be present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in anembodiment, C alone may be present in an embodiment, or that anycombination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a singleembodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings that form a part of thisdocument: Copyright 2016, SNAPCHAT, INC. 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor; a userinterface coupled to the processor, the user interface comprising aninput device and a display screen; and memory coupled to the processorand storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause thesystem to perform operations comprising: presenting an image on thedisplay screen of the user interface; receiving input, via the inputdevice of the user interface, from a user of the system selecting anobject within the image; generating a media overlay containing theselected object; transmitting the media overlay to a server over theInternet; receiving input from the user via the input device of the userinterface for controlling usage of the media overlay; and in response tothe input from the user for controlling usage of the media overlay,transmitting instructions for controlling usage of the media overlay byother computing devices to the server over the Internet.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causingthe system to perform operations comprising: receiving, from the serverover the Internet, a uniform resource locator link to the media overlay.3. The system of claim 2, wherein the memory further stores instructionsfor causing the system to perform operations comprising: receiving inputfrom the user via the input device of the user interface for sharing theuniform resource locator to the media overlay with a computing device ofa second user; and in response to receiving the input for sharing theuniform resource locator to the media overlay, transmitting anelectronic communication containing the uniform resource locator to thecomputing device of the second user over the Internet.
 4. The system ofclaim 3, wherein the system includes a token in the electroniccommunication that limits access to the uniform resource locator to thecomputing device of the second user and prevents access to the uniformresource locator by other computing devices.
 5. The system of claim 3,wherein the uniform resource locator is accessible by other computingdevices receiving the electronic communication receiving the electroniccommunication from the computing device of the second user.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includesgenerating a geolocation field in a data structure for the media overlaythat includes location information received from a location sensorcoupled to the system.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein generating themedia overlay includes generating a name field in a data structure forthe media overlay that includes a name for the overlay received from theuser via the input device of the user interface.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the system prevents the user from modifying the name field inthe data structure for the media overlay after the media overlay istransmitted to the server.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the memoryfurther stores instructions for causing the system to perform operationscomprising: receiving, from the server over the Internet, a second imagehaving a second media overly applied to the second image; and displayingthe second image on the display screen of the user interface.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the memory further stores instructions forcausing the system to perform operations comprising: retrieving thesecond media overlay applied to the second image in response toselection of the second media overlay by the user via the input deviceof the user interface; and applying the second media overlay to a thirdimage displayed on the display screen of the user interface.
 11. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein displaying the second image includesdisplaying a name associated with the second media overlay and anidentifier associated with a user who created the second media overlay.12. The system of claim 9, wherein the second image has a plurality ofmedia overlays applied to the second image and wherein the memoryfurther stores instructions for causing the system to perform operationscomprising: retrieving one or more random media overlays from theplurality of media overlays applied to the second image.
 13. The systemof claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causingthe system to perform operations comprising: receiving, from the serverover the Internet, information on usage of the media overlay by one ormore other users via a respective one or more other computing devices;and displaying the information on the usage of the media overlay on thedisplay screen of the user interface.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the usage information includes one or more of: a number of viewsof the media overlay, a number of applications of the media overlay, andinformation regarding derivative media overlays created based on themedia overlay.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the usage informationincludes information regarding derivative media overlays and wherein theinput from the user for controlling usage of the media overlay includesdeleting the media overlay by the user to cause the server to delete thederivative media overlays.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the usageinformation includes information regarding derivative media overlays andwherein the input from the user for controlling usage of the mediaoverlay includes performing a modification to the media overlay by theuser to cause the server to perform the modification to the derivativemedia overlays.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein the usageinformation includes information regarding derivative media overlays andwherein the input from the user for controlling usage of the mediaoverlay includes input for selectively deleting or modifying one or morederivative overlays from a plurality of derivative media overlays. 18.The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for controlling usage ofthe overlay includes instructions for controlling distribution of theoverlay according to one or more of: a whitelist, a blacklist, and ageographical location.
 19. A computer-implemented method comprising:presenting, by a computer system, an image on a display screen of a userinterface coupled to the computing device; receiving, by the computersystem, input from a user of the computer system via an input device ofthe user interface selecting an object within the image; generating, bythe computer system, a media overlay containing the selected object;transmitting, by the computer system, the media overlay to a server overthe Internet; receiving, by the computer system, input from the user viathe input device of the user interface for controlling usage of themedia overlay; and in response to the input from the user forcontrolling usage of the media overlay, transmitting, by the computersystem, instructions for controlling usage of the media overlay by othercomputing devices to the server over the Internet.
 20. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by acomputer system, cause the computer system to perform operationscomprising: presenting an image on a display screen of a user interfacecoupled to the computer system; receiving input, via an input device ofthe user interface, from a user of the system selecting an object withinthe image; generating a media overlay containing the selected object;transmitting the media overlay to a server over the Internet; receivinginput from the user via the input device of the user interface forcontrolling usage of the media overlay; and in response to the inputfrom the user for controlling usage of the media overlay, transmittinginstructions for controlling usage of the media overlay by othercomputing devices to the server over the Internet.